Monday, June 26, 2017
Associated Press
Japanese air-bag maker Takata Corp. has filed for bankruptcy protection in Tokyo and the U.S., overwhelmed by lawsuits and recall costs related to its production of faulty air-bag inflators linked to the death of at least 16 people.
The company announced the expected action late Sunday. Takata confirmed that most of its assets will be bought by rival Key Safety Systems, based in suburban Detroit. Key will pay about $1.6 billion, according to an announcement by the two companies.
Takata’s defective inflators can explode with too much force when they fill up an air bag, spewing out shrapnel. Besides the fatalities, they’re also responsible for at least 180 injuries, and touched off the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. So far, 100 million inflators have been recalled worldwide including 69 million in the U.S., affecting 42 million vehicles.
Under the agreement with Key, Takata’s manufacturing of inflators will be kept separate in order to keep manufacturing inflators used as replacement parts in recalls. The recalls, which are being handled by 19 affected automakers, will continue.
Key also said it won’t cut any Takata jobs or close any of Takata’s facilities.
At the end of April, only 22 percent of the 69 million recalled inflators in the U.S. had been replaced under the recalls, leaving almost 54 million on the roads, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website. This means more inflators will likely explode and more people will be injured, lawyers say.